Bold Rock is a local success story! The award-winning craft cider company, which makes a variety of hard cider styles from apples picked in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and North Carolina, will add 30,000 square feet of new production space in 2017. This will feature an apple press for onsite pressing, a new canning line, and new tanks that will increase liquid production by 25,000 barrels annually. The nation’s largest independently-owned craft cidery and the sixth largest hard cider company in the U.S. with distribution to only nine states. That said, all of the apples for the Nellysford cidery are sourced within a 30-mile radius. They arrive in 900-pound bins and are pressed on site in the juicing barn. The pulp is given to local farmers to feed their animals. The juice is then pumped uphill, where champagne yeast is added. The juice is fermented for 18 to 20 days and the finished cider is bottled in view of visitors. To keep things going year-round, Bold Rock has both a cold storage and a climate control system to keep apples fresh. With their commitment to quality and the local movement, Bold Rock has squeezed company’s like Sam Adam’s owned Angry Orchard for market share and become the top selling cider in Virginia.

The Ciders:

Pear: This was the first cider that Bold Rock blended additional fruit into and cider maker Brian Shanks went back to the orchards of his homeland and sourced pears from Hawkes Bay, New Zealand. Bold Rock always uses locally sourced apples, but pears don’t throve in the eastern USA. To make Bold Rock Pear, Taylor’s Gold, Packham and Doyenne du Comice pears are used from selected orchards and freshly pressed in New Zealand. Then the juice is shipped to Bold Rock’s production facility. Pears contain sorbitol, a fruit sugar, that does not ferment out, and leaves a nice natural residual sugar that balances with the crispness of the Virginia apples used in this blend. Bold Rock Pear was first released in 2014.

India Pressed Apple: “IPA blends the tartness of fresh-pressed apples with the slightly sweet notes of passionfruit, grapefruit, and citrus. Dry-hopped with a blend of five hops including Cascade, Centennial, and Citra, the new hard cider has a floral aroma with a fruity smell of elderflower that pairs refreshingly with a crisp apple finish.” Don’t be fooled by hopped ciders, they are not bitter like beers. They have lovely aromatics with lovely fruity and floral notes. If you think that you don’t like hops, give this guys a try!

Premium Dry: Are you looking for a nice, crisp dry cider for everyday drinking? Then, try Premium Dry! One of Bold Rock’s newest core offerings has over a third less sugar than their original Virginia Apple. Perfect for the heat wave that we are currently experiencing.

Also, we are working on getting the current seasonal to add to the bar … keep an eye on Twitter and we will let you know if we can get it fresh off the truck!